Spain says 8 in its custody aided hijackers

Tribune news services

Eight alleged members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network arrested in Spain last week played a role in preparing the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, officials said Sunday, marking the first direct connection between the attacks and a second terrorist cell allegedly working in support of the plotters.

The eight men detained last week in Madrid and Granada were ordered held without bail Sunday. In the detention order, widely quoted in Spanish news media, Judge Baltasar Garzon said the eight "were directly related with the preparation and development of the attacks perpetrated by the suicide pilots on September 11." The judge said they were part of the Al Qaeda network headed by Osama bin Laden.

Officials in Madrid said the charges were based on documents and intercepted telephone conversations of one of the arrested men, Imad Eddin Barakat Yarbas, described as the leader of Al Qaeda in Spain. The officials said Yarbas' name and phone number appeared in a document seized during the search of an apartment of a suspected bin Laden associate in Hamburg, Germany, after Sept. 11.

The link between alleged Al Qaeda operatives in Spain and Germany could provide a major break in understanding how the attacks were planned and carried out. The suspected leader of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta, visited Spain in January and July, after he had moved to the United States from Hamburg. It is now believed that on those trips he met with some of the arrested members of an Al Qaeda cell centered in Madrid.

German officials revealed last week that they have identified five people living in Hamburg who they believe supported the cell led by Atta. The five are under surveillance and will be arrested if they attempt to flee, German sources said. The suspects are part of a larger Islamic extremist network that German authorities are attempting to build a case against, the sources said.

Judge Garzon, famous for his pursuit of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, held the eight suspects, who were driven to court in separate vehicles, on charges of belonging to an armed group and possession of forged documents. All eight said they are innocent of the charges and denied belonging to Al Qaeda.